A Heart's Asylum
by Daruku Janubu
Summary: When everyone thougth that darkness was gone Sora starts to see the heartless and nobodies following people. The problem is, no one else sees them. Could it be that the keyblade hero is going crazy or is it something more?
1. Back in home

I've kind of brought back to life my old obsession with kingdom hearts. YAY! Hehe, so here is a new story.

This is a story I wrote in an old notebook back in my first year in college (Yeah, I wrote it in the middle of my teacher's lecture). I kind of felt nostalgic so I decided to go for it and write it. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Summary: The door to darkness has finally been closed and the worlds have gone back to peace. And so has the live of the three young heroes: Sora, Riku and Kairi. But things started to get complicated when Sora and his friends go back to class. The keyblade master began to see Heartless everywhere! But no one else sees them. Is Sora going crazy or is this the beginning of a new adventure?

Pairings: Well for now, only Sora x Kairi. Maybe later I'll ad something more.

Warnings: This story may become quite sad so if you like happy fic, I don't really suggest you to read this. Also look out for bad grammar and vocabulary usage… I'm still learning English, so please have patience with me.

With all that said, please ejoy! xD

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A heart's Asylum

Chapter I

"Back in home"

* * *

'The closer you get to the Light, the bigger your shadow becomes,' such a nostalgic phrase been said within his confused mind.

There was nothing but light surrounding him. Warmth embraced his beating heart. He felt completely at peace, in harmony, with himself and everything in the worlds.

'**You have lived too much time in the world of light****.'**

That disembodied voice that came from his most inner memories said darkly, and so, his peace was broken.

'**There's someone crying while you laugh****.'**

The shadow grew beneath his feet. He backed at the sight.

'**So much you still ignore****.'**

He felt someone breathing at his neck. Startled he turned around only to be face to face with himself.

'**For even a warrior of light holds darkness in his heart****.' **

It was such a perfect copy of him, but its eyes shined bright yellow and his skin pitch black.

'**There's been a perturbation on the plane of existence****.' **

The dark Sora got closer to its original as the boy got a feeling that he hadn't felt for a good while, fear.

'**But don't forget****,' **as the voice talked the shadow extended his arms. **'Even if it's dark, it still is a part of you,'** the shadow put its hands on Sora's neck and started to choke him. **'Don't forget, you hold the mightiest weapon of them all.' **

The boy tried to push the hands away from his neck as he grew desperate from the lack of air.

'**Your life is about to be covered in darkness, all the oblivious worlds are going to fall without warning. Key bearer… what you decide will either safe the worlds or…" **

The world started to become black as he felt himself lose consciousness. And just before everything disappeared he heard that gentle voice say: **'I'm sorry…'**and so everything turned to oblivion.

* * *

"Sora!"

Where was he again?

"Sora, wake up!" that was the voice of his mother. She was calling him as she knocked the door.

If his mother was there and she was knocking his door, then he was back in his room! As his head played with the delicate lines between real and illusion he inhaled as much air as he could.

"It was just a dream." He tried to convince himself, but for a moment he thought he had actually been choking to death.

"Sora, are you awake young man? It's your first day of school in almost two years now, you don't want to be late, do you?" the angry voice of his mom said from outside of his room.

Sora blinked a few times before answering.

"Ok mom, I'm awake... but quite frankly, I would prefer not going at all" the last part he said to himself. Turning to look at his table clock he noticed it was already 6:30. "Geez! I'm going to be late to meet with Kairi and Riku!"

"Told you!" replied his mother from outside.

Sora opened his door and looked at his mother with a nervous smile as he tried to control his annoyed expression. Sora's mom was beautiful, with gentle dark eyes and short brunette hair. At the moment, she was wearing a simple T-shirt and an old pair of pants with a baby blue apron over all. She had a spatula on her hand and was countering her son's little angry smile with a smirk of her own.

"Mom, I'm not a child anymore. I don't need you to take care of me all the time, thank you."

His mom frowned softly as she crossed her arms.

"I know that, but I have an important thing to ask to my baby boy, so could you swatch with him for a little moment, mister adult?"

"I'll take the message," said the boy following the game.

"I wanted to know if you were going to want some chocolate on your pancakes."

The boy growled.

"And you came all the way here to ask me something like that. Mom, please, don't ask what's obvious!"

"Is that a yes?"

"Definitely!" the woman watched with a smile as her son turned around fuming about how he couldn't believe she still needed to ask something so obvious, IT WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE! He closed his door while saying 'don't forget the butter'.

She stood in silence for a few seconds in that same spot hearing him run about his room searching for his towel to go take a shower. Then, she turned around and made her way to the kitchen. As she walked a hand went to her chest over her fast beating heart. A soft tear fell down her cheek as she smiled sweetly. "My baby is home," she whispered to herself. It had been a few weeks now, but every time she woke up she had to go to his room just to make sure that she hadn't been dreaming. And every time he whined or joked like that, her heart would leap in happiness because her beloved son was back and he hadn't changed at all. Or at least, not so much. She smiled thinking of how much he had grown; he was on the right path to become a very handsome man, just like his dad! She let out a giggle as if she was again a young teenage girl and quickly went back to make breakfast.

* * *

Sora moved around his room as fast as he could. He had fifteen minutes left to reach their meeting point. He broke his record in the shower and for the first time he found his uniform between the disaster of his drawer. Besides those and the clothing that the three fairies gave him, he had no more clothes that actually fitted him. Well he got a few things that he could wear but nothing he really liked. He had been either too busy or felt too lazy to do something about it, but mom had warned him that if he didn't get himself a new wardrobe by this weekend then she would do it herself. And you got to fear a mother's ideal dressing style for her baby boy.

He put on his blue pants and buttoned up his white shirt. But then came to a halt as he faced the greatest challenge he had had in a while… his tie!

Sora had gone through several worlds, fought against heartless and nobodies, learned to pilot a gummi ship, but even for his life he couldn't remember how to make the stupid knot of that tie!

"Oh, Come on! … it was twist, over… then down… and through the hole?" he hadn't felt such disorientation since he went to Wonderland for the first time!

"Ah! forget it! Why would someone create such an annoying thing in the first place?!"

Giving up, he allowed it to hang from around his neck as he went to his mirror to try and put a little order on his gravity defying hair.

Finally he went downstairs and into the kitchen where his nose guided him to a plate of hot pancakes waiting for him. He was about to launch himself over his plate but his mom and a rather menacing spatula got in the way.

"Tsk, tsk, what do we say?"

"Um… thanks for the food?" he answered innocently.

"Very well, but remember to chew on your food, don't go swallowing it," she said with that tone reserved only for a mother to give advice to their children. He smiled brightly; he just loved to hear that voice every single time.

"Yes, mom," he said as she took her place in front of him. He took a good bite from one pancake and you could almost see the stars shining in his eyes.

"By your goofy grin I'll dare say you like it," she said lovingly.

"Doesn't matter how much I eat it, mom's food is definitely the best of all the worlds!"

He happily devoured his plate of pancakes. Then he drank his glass of juice and stood up very fast, he was running out of time.

He run to the living room and took his backpack, then went to his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek and run to the door.

"Bye mom!" he yelled as he left.

"Bye Sora," she said more to herself than to her son, after all, he wouldn't hear it. She sighed and took a picture from the near table and gave a heartwarming smile to it.

"I'm so happy that he is home, dear. And he has grown so much," she caressed with her finger the photograph of a young man with dark blue eyes and dirty blond hair. His hair was quite spiky and had a bright smile. He was carrying a little brunette toddler on his shoulders. "He looks just like you… and," she giggled to herself. "He also doesn't know how to make the knot of his tie yet… well, is as they say: like father, like son."

* * *

The boy ran as fast as he could to meet his friends.

"I wonder if everyone will remember me," he said with some worry. "I better ask Riku about it."

But as he ran his right eye seemed to catch something moving from behind a bench on the street. He stopped to look at it closely, but there was nothing there.

"Weird," he mumbled before running again, he must have imagine it.

He would never have guessed that that was the beginning of his life's greatest change.

* * *

Well, I hope you've enjoy it. I'm working on updating my other story of KH as soon as possible so look out for it.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Blushing issues

Alright, so here I leave a new chapter, this is like the calm before the storm chapter… after this, things start to go down hill for our young hero, so enjoy this while it lasts!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Note: Sorry for the bad grammar or vocabulary usage.

Well, enjoy xD!

**

* * *

**

A heart's Asylum

**Chapter II**

**Blushing issues**

* * *

Even thought he could go faster, in order to not look like a complete freak or worse, a monster, he couldn't use his abilities to glide or roll and make his way faster to the meeting point, not when there were so many people in the streets at least. He had forgotten how boring it was to just simply run at a normal pace.

And he was five minutes late, so he was even more frustrated.

"_Wonder if they are waiting for me?" _

He finally turned the last corner to reach the bench near the beach where he and his friends had decided to meet before their first day of school. And someone was already waiting for him.

There, looking at her watch was the lonely figure of his red haired friend. She was, to him, the most beautiful princess in the whole universe, but to the rest of the people she was only Kairi, the mayor's adopted daughter.

She turned around at the sound of his footsteps and smiled warmly at him as he reached her with a flushed face and his classic goofy grin. She thought he might have run very fast to look like that, completely oblivious that he was blushing from his personal thoughts about her.

"You're late," she declared with a sly grin.

"I know," he agreed raising his eyes to meet with hers. Swiftly, he lost himself within her bright and lovely eyes. Sora could feel his face becoming hotter and found himself feeling quite embarrassed. _"Oh please, come on, not in front of her!" _he whined inwardly. And she was still looking at his eyes; he had to do something to escape from it before he fell under their spell again, not that he would mind much but... He could feel his body inching closer to hers and he heard a loud ALERT call ringing in his head. So he decided to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"Riku," he mumbled.

"Ah?" she answered looking at him startled. He wanted to slap himself for having said that._ "Way to go Sora, what if she gets the wrong idea? What if she doesn't want to talk to you again? What if… what if… What if you stop jumping into stupid conclusions that doesn't make any sense?! For the love of everything in the realm of light, Sora! Just say something!"_

He cleared his throat and looked away from her inquiring eyes.

"Riku… em… where is Riku?" he completed with a sheepish smile. _"ok, not exactly what I had in mind, but… geez, who cares."_

"Ah… well…" Kairi tried to think about his question but was very nervous since she could feel the soft flush on her cheeks spreading. Fortunately, Sora had turned to look away because she was dying of embarrassment. For a moment there, she had lost herself in his shiny, deep blue eyes and… She shook her head to force herself to wake up. "Well… he hasn't come yet."

The boy looked to the side of the street to see if his best friend was close. _"Good thing he isn't here yet… if Riku had been here, I wouldn't have heard the end of it, not after that scene."_

Unconsciously, and guided by the nervousness of being alone with Kairi, his right hand started to play with his untied tie. Kairi noticed it and started giggling at him.

"What?" he asked when he notice she was laughing.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten how to make the knot of your tie," she said containing her laugh.

"Well, then I won't tell you," he said pouting childishly.

"Here, let me do it for you," she got closer and touched his shoulder to make him turn towards her.

He blushed again. She hadn't been this close to him since she had hugged him back in the world that never was.

"Uh…eh… t-there is no need to do that Kai," he said trying to move away.

"Sora, it's the uniform, and according to school standards you've got to have it tied. So stop moving, it's just a second."

She took both ends of tie and started to make the knot with all the expertise she had acquired through the years.

Sora tried with all his might to keep his eyes on the floor, anything to keep his head away from the idea of Kairi being so close to him. _"I wonder… what would she do if I hug her? … NO! BAD SORA! What are you thinking off? She's you're friend for Pete's sake! … but…then again… she's just so beautiful…"_

"There." She declared braking through his thoughts. "You really should learn how to do it yourself, after all, you'll have to do it every school day from now on," he gave him a sweet smile that simply made him melt all inside. _"Beautiful… and cute…"_

He answered her comment with his classic 'Sora pose' (a.n.: you know the one when he is smiling and has his arms behind his head). But his smile fell a little when he noticed that she was getting closer. Her face was now only a breath away from his which made him a little giddy. She was standing on the tips of her shoes as she inspected him.

"Uh… what?" he asked nervously trying to keep the blush away from his face '_Warning! Too close!_' screamed a voice inside his mind.

"You've grown," she said as she backed away with a little far way look.

He looked at her with relieve and curiosity.

"I've grown?"

"You'll think this silly… but I haven't really paid much attention to the fact that we've all changed. You used to be almost as tall as I, but now you're way taller, your hair is spikier, your voice deeper… you've changed so much in just a year and a half," she had thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Oh…" he said, he had noticed there had been changes. For instance, his clothes didn't fit, and his mother seemed all giddy about his voice new ring, but he hadn't given it much importance… but now… are this changes important for her?

"And… are those changes… good?" he asked a slightly anxious.

She suddenly faced him, with a small tender smile.

"Yeah," she said, making him let out a sigh of relief. "I think they are… after all, everything changes from time to time, but you're still the same in here," she said touching his chest over his heart with her finger. "And that's what really matters, right?"

He felt his hear leap in joy when she touched his chest. A reminder of how connected he still was with Kairi's heart. She giggled at him while holding her hands behind her back in what he called 'Kairi's stance'.

"Absolutely, that's the important part."

She looked at him with curious eyes. "Sora, do you think…do you think I've changed also?" she tried to hide he soft blush as she said the last part.

He was startled by her question. What should he say? _"Should I tell her the truth? NO! I can't… come on! What would she say if I said 'course you've changed, you've become the most attractive and lovely person I have ever met in any world?" _the simple idea of telling her that made him sweat.

"Sora?" she asked a little impatient… Did he have to think it that much? Was it that his answer was something bad? "I asked you i-"

"Course you've changed! You're taller aren't you?" answered a mocking voice from behind them. They turned around to find the older member of their group standing with a knowing grin on his face, his long silver bangs were covering part of his aqua-green eyes, and Sora could have sworn he saw a glint of mischief in them.

"Riku, what's up?" said Sora as he raised his hand in a fist towards his friend. The older got closed to touch his own fist with Sora's in what was their personal way greeting.

Riku chuckled as he took Sora closer to him and whispered something in his ear.

"That's what I should be asking you, we'll talk about your blushing problem later," Sora felt trapped for the second time of the day, but this time it wasn't such a pleasant imprisonment. He had to find a way to avoid it!

"And you're not avoiding it, so forget about even trying." He was doomed.

Riku walked to Kairi and put a hand on her head petting her with care.

"See, I'd say you've grown quite a bit yourself."

"You think so?" she asked happily.

"Without a doubt. But that's not the only change you've had," he added with that mischievous glint in the eye that Sora had seen earlier.

"Um… no?" she asked, her curiosity taking the best of her.

Riku looked at her from the corner of his eye and then walked towards Sora and put his arm around the younger's shoulder. Sora could feel himself trapped yet again. He didn't like that smirk Riku was giving him.

"I'd say, you've become quite an attractive lady Kairi."

Sora saw her face turn the darkest shade of crimson; it was so impressive that it made him wonder just how much blood was required to make someone blush like that. It was rivaling the red of her hair!

"Stop joking around Riku!" she spluttered.

"No joke Kairi. If you don't trust me, my friend here, Sora, will corroborate my statement. You've become very beautiful, right Sora?"

Sora felt as if his best friend had suddenly laid the weight of the whole universe over his shoulder, but literally, because he had that weight before and it was nothing compared to this.

He glared at Riku, who only shrug it off with an innocent grin.

Then he turned to look at Kairi and noticed she was looking at him with some… expectance, maybe?

"Do… do you think he's right, Sora?" she asked.

Sora gulped, _"She looks so cute…"_

"Well… um… you… you've…" _"What should I say?" _he questioned himself. _'The truth'_ said a voice in the back of his mind. _'She's Kairi, your friend, you should tell her the trught, it ain't that bad' _Sora decided to follow the advice. "You've… you've always been beautiful… to me…" he whispered the last part as he became as red as Kairi had been and because of his lightheaded sensation he understood just how much blood you needed to get there. "He'stellingthetruth," he added as fast as he could before he was too dizzy to speak.

She smiled as her heart beat faster _"He thinks I'm beautiful," _inside her head she was the most joyous person in the world, scratch that, in all the worlds!

"_Wow! I didn't actually __think he would say it! Ok, I'll give him a point to his favor," _Riku thought before he tightened a little his grip on Sora's shoulder, the boy seemed to be a little out of balance after such a simple confession. Riku had to make an inhuman effort not to laugh at his friends' expense.

Kairi kept her gaze away from Sora trying to avoid blushing again when she noticed something about Riku.

"You too?" she asked in disbelieve.

He looked at her confused as she got closer. Her sudden comment made Sora recover from his little disorientation.

"I can't believe you don't remember either!" she said while taking the cloth around Riku's neck that was his tie.

He chuckled at this.

"Well, in my defense I can say that it's been almost two years without school and no one wears ties in the dark side or in any world I've been to," he explained with humor. "That can really make you forget, especially when you fight to stay alive, I can assure you that personal appearance was the least of my worries."

She laughed a little as she ended the knot. It was good to know that his friend could talk about these things with so much ease after all that he went through.

"There, now we better get moving or we'll be late."

The two boys followed her as she leaded the way to school.

"Hey Riku," said Sora. "Why were you late?"

"Well… you know how mom is… she wanted me to eat all my breakfast so slowly that I almost fell asleep on my cereal," he groaned a little to give it more emphasis. "I mean, haven't she heard the part of 'fast' in 'breakfast'?" his eyes filled with irony as he added. "Oh, and dad had such an interesting day at work yesterday that he had to tell us everything in the morning."

"Wow, that explains it all," Sora laughed at his friend's frustration. He knew that Riku's parents were good at making their son bored and annoyed out of his mind, that was one of the reasons as to why Riku always was with Sora: to escape the boredom of his home life.

And talking about Riku, he seemed annoyed as he messed around with his tie.

"Geez… now I remember why I hated this stupid uniform so much, this thing is like torture!"

"Oh…" Sora looked at his tie, it was uncomfortable, yes, but it wasn't that unbearable. "It's not so bad," he said.

"That's because at least you're used to wearing something around the neck. I don't, and this just feels so wrong!" he shivered to emphasize his point.

"Don't be such a baby Riku, besides I had to wear it for a year and a half more than you two."

"My sincere condolences young princess," he answered as he bowed comically. The three laughed at his actions.

They finally reached the school and slowly entered the building.

"Hey… Riku, do you think everyone will remember me?" Riku noticed the worried expression of his friend.

"Why wouldn't they?" asked Kairi as she too noticed the slightly slouched posture her friend took when he said that.

"Well… even my mom said she forgot about me… maybe…"

"Of course they will remember you," answered Riku giving him the most comforting smile he could create. "And even if they still don't, when they see you they'll remember."

"Yes, no need to worry about it," Kairi said, hoping that it would be like that, for Sora's sake.

Riku continued smiling as he pushed Sora jokingly. But inside he felt a little guilty for the worry his friend had. Sometimes, Riku really wished he hadn't had to allow them to go through all of that. He promised in that instant to do his best to help Sora and Kairi to return to the live they used to have.

Little did he know that that was one promise he wouldn't be able to keep.

* * *

Chapter two! Yeah!

Thanks for reading! And double thanks for those who review!

Till next chapter, bye!


	3. It's not real

Chapter three! Yeah!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Sorry for any grammar or vocabulary mistake.

Enjoy! xD

* * *

**A Heart's Asylum**

**Chapter III**

**It's not real**

* * *

Entering into the building felt so surreal to him. Sora couldn't believe he was actually back in school. _"Man! I'm back in school!"_ he thought excited but then gave it a little more of thought. _"Maaan! I'm back in schooool… whyyyyyyy?!" _he groaned. For a second there he almost allowed himself to actually be happy to be back in school, but who in their right state of mind will be happy by that?!!!

"Hey guys, be prepared," said their red haired friend as she giggled softly. They looked at her, completely clueless as to what she meant.

"Prepare for what Kai-?" started to ask Riku only to receive his answer right then and there.

"I can't believe it! Tell me my eyes ain't freaking kidding me!" they heard an enthusiastic voice screaming from behind. "Well, if it isn't Riku and Sora!" the two boys found themselves into a big hug given to them by a young girl with brown hair. She was wearing the same uniform as Kairi, and was beaming with happiness. The girl winked at Kairi's direction as she assaulted her two old friends.

"Selphie!" exclaimed Sora hugging her as well.

"Selphie…" said Riku trying to pry her arms off of him. Not that he wasn't happy to see her, but it was a little embarrassing for him to be hugged by the petite girl in the middle of the entrance hall of their high school as every passerby stopped and stared and in some cases –teenage girl cases- laugh at them.

"Selphie, girl, what is the hurr-" started to say a blonde boy as he came from behind a group of people only to look in bewilderment at the scene. "RIKU!" he screamed as he got closer.

"Riku?" asked another boy's voice as he tried to catch with his joyful blonde friend. When he saw the silver haired a big smile appeared in his face. "Riku! You're back, ya!"

Riku smiled at them.

"Tidus! Wakka! Look what I found, it's Riku and Sora!" exclaimed the girl letting the other two go from her death grip.

"Riku and who…?" both answered at the same time looking carefully at the boy at Riku's side.

Sora was a little taken aback by their answer before sheepishly waving at them. "Sora…me…"

Riku noticed the worry behind his friend's smile, but relaxed when he noticed the knowing smile on Kairi's face.

The other two boys got closer to Sora and began to look at him, inspecting him from head to toe.

"Naaah, you must be mistaken Selph," declared Tidus.

"Ya, man, she's mistaken!" he said both looking with mug smiles at the girl.

"No way, this is Sora, how can you not remember Sora!" exclaimed Selphie in anger.

"No way! I mean look at him!" said the blonde chuckling, "The Sora I remember was a little pipsqueak with no muscle," he took Sora's arm and whistled. "How in hell did that would become this?"

It took Sora a few seconds to notice that his friend was messing with him, and when he did he took Tidus into a headlock.

"Ok, ok, its Sora, I get it… now let go!" everyone laughed at the Tidus' expense.

"Well, Kairi was right, you've changed very much, ya!" said the orange haired boy. "I bet now you're one heck of a stronger sparring opponent!"

"Told you so," said Kairi talking for the first time since they appeared.

Everyone chatted for a while. The friends were very happy to see each other again. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie admitted that when Kairi came back and told them about Sora and Riku having returned, they didn't really remembered who Sora was, but after she brought a few of anecdotes back to their heads, they remembered him almost instantly. Apparently, she had called them the day before to tell them that she was going to go to school with them and that they could meet together before class.

Sora sent a grateful smile to Kairi as he listened, and she answered with her own smile.

Tidus, Wakka and Selphie started to fill their two ex-lost friends about the things that had happened in their absence. For example, they told them about Wakka's and Tidus' participation in the triumph of their Blitzball team in the Inter Island high school competition. Time had really been productive for the two.

After a few minutes they started to on how much their friends had changed.

Riku seemed older and his hair was much longer now, he also had more defined muscles, but everyone agreed that Wakka had the bigger arms now. They also said that he was still a little intimidating, but not in the bad way. Apparently, almost two years ago, the last time they saw him, he was quite frightening… Tidus mentioned that he didn't know how Sora could be so comfortable with him around.

Riku lowered his head in shame… by that time he was already falling into darkness, so it wasn't really surprising that he was someone to be feared. But still he hadn't noticed that he was making his friends uncomfortable.

He felt Sora giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and Kairi stood by his side as they talked. Riku smiled, that was in the past, and he had his friends now to overcome all. Besides, Tidus -soon to notice the mood-added that now, Riku didn't make him feel uncomfortable at all. In fact, he felt as if Riku was again the person that they all had respected so much since their childhood. He was emanating this weird kind of strength that had made him be their childhood hero. (a.n.: You know, the boy that everyone wants to be, the leader of the gang, the one everyone wants to play with. That kind of childhood idol.)

After they finished examining Riku, they looked at Sora.

First thing that came out of Selphie's mouth was some kind of fan girlish scream accompanied by a: "you've got so handsome! Of course, Riku's too. But Riku's always been! But, look, who could have thought that Sora could be handsome!"

"Hey!" exclaimed the boy and to everyone's amusement, Kairi did as well. Both started to get red as Selphie's eyes shined with suspicion.

The boys decided to intervene to stop Selphie from going into a fan girl rampage.

Tidus told Sora about how his hair looked lighter now and asked him if he had been in a sunny pace while he was gone. The boy could only give him a 'yes', after all, he couldn't tell them where had he been… less that he was asleep most of that time.

Then Wakka complimented him about finally having developed some muscle, of course he wasn't close to what he and Riku had, but then again, it was enough to make him look in shape and ready to post a real challenge. He asked him if he had been sparring a lot lately, to which he answered honestly with a yes, a huge and unbelievably truthful YES!

By the time the warning bell sounded, they felt as if they had never been apart at all. It was an amazing feeling to have the group complete again. It was as if those two years didn't make any difference. But unfortunately they did.

Sora and Riku had been left behind by their friends when it came to education.

Sora, for being the bad student he was, was a year behind from Kairi and his friends, even thought he tried the leveling exams that was the best he got.

Riku, on his part, was in the same year as Kairi, Tidus and Selphie. If he had tried harder, surely he could have gotten into Wakka's year as he should, but he really didn't mind it much. To him, school wasn't so important, not after all he had gone through. He just wanted to be close to his old friends for as long as he could. In fact, if he could have, he would have gotten into Sora's year… but unfortunately he wasn't able to fail his tests as his friend did, so he –and making a great effort to get low grades- got himself in Kairi's. Riku wasn't a genius, but he was quite clever and good when it came to learn stuff. It only took him a month of studies to be ready for the exams… Sora, not even with the help of his two best friends, got a good grade… so yeah, he was doomed.

Everyone split and went to their respective homerooms to start the day, but promised to meet at the cafeteria later on, and also to walk home together after class. That, at least, helped to cheer up a little of Sora's gloomy aura. But he couldn't help it, he was the only one left behind!

* * *

He had really forgotten how boring it was to be in class. His teacher was giving them a really long and monotonous speech about the importance of numbers in their daily lives.

Numbers were important! Of course he knew that! It was important to know numbers to be able to calculate how much munny you could spend in potions in order to have enough to buy a new shield! But there was no need for him to go and make two hour a speech bout numbers! It was making him go crazy!

Sora tried to distract himself by doodling in his notebook. He smiled for he wasn't good at drawing and the idea remembered him about the girl named Naminé, Kairi's nobody, for some reason. The teacher started to talk about the power of the binary code. He made the doodle of a little heartless and wrote a one on its side, then made one of a nobody and wrote a cero on its side. Yep, his personal binary code. The boy shook his head a little and erased the drawings. The king had told them that they shouldn't think much about heartless and nobodies anymore. The door to darkness had been sealed, and they were gone forever, so they should try to return to normal.

Sora laughed inwardly. Normal was difficult. Almost impossible, especially if you were the keyblade master. But he really wanted to be normal again.

"_No more heartless, no more nobodies… no more darkness,"_ he thought, it sounded so beautiful, it sounded perfect, it sounded too good to be true. But he knew it was the truth.

So many things had changed in so little time. The worlds were saved and now everything in the universe was in peace. Well, at least, everything was on the right path to be in peace.

As the teacher continued talking about numbers and their relevance Sora decided to invest the time in something else. He took a little booklet from his pant's pocket and flipped it open. It was an official manual of inter-world rules. This was one of the things that had changed. Maybe, the greatest change since the heartless appeared.

A week after they had finally returned, the king made a big announcement. They had decided to create an inter-world council to preserve the peace and stability of all the worlds in the universe. It was the king's and many other world ruler's initiative. They selected a group of representatives –heroes and leaders from each world that had been connected- to speak in their world's behalf. That way they could keep some kind of contact with each place but keep the people of the world living in peace without knowing of the existence of others out there. For a moment, to Sora it sounded like a large inter-world conspiracy, but Riku said that that was only because he's seen too many science fiction movies.

The point of this whole initiative was to restore life as it used to be before the heartless attacked. To receive help and give help to the other worlds through different laws that will ensure a fair trait between their kinds. It was also to help return those that ended up in other worlds –such us Traverse Town- to their original homes safely. It had only been almost a month since the council was formed, but things were working very well. But still to achieve such an ambitious project they required all the help they could get.

Now, that was one of the reasons as to why, even thought they've come back a while ago (six weeks to be exact), they didn't hang around their Islands so much; because, since the council of worlds had been formed, they immediately demanded to meet the three new keyblade wielders. Therefore, they had spent much of their time travelling to the place were they gathered to discuss.

The first thing they did was thank them for their efforts to save the universe, making especial mention to Sora's development as a keyblade master. The second thing they did was give them a list of rules that they were to obey for them to keep the title of keyblade wielders (all inside a little and convenient manual that he was reading right now). It was very difficult for Sora to get all this new information into his lazy head, but fortunately the king helped him. To the three friends surprise, being a key bearer was considered almost a profession or a title (like being a soldier) that few were chosen to fulfill or at least that was ten years ago… but it seemed that everyone preferred not to speak about that subject. He wondered why…

Whatever the reason, they were giving rules, like: never to allow a civil to see the keyblade unless it's required for the protection of his or her world; and, do not mention the existence of any other world unless it's to a person authorized by the council to receive this information (thankfully, the King convinced them to allow the parents of the three keyblade wielders to be told the truth so they wouldn't be too worried about their children's whereabouts). The list just went on and on. Sora was pretty upset with some of those rules and agreed with Riku's view on the situation; of course, he would have used other way to word it.

"_This is bullshit, man! You hear it? Bullshit!" _Sora could only smile at the memory of Riku throwing the booklet to the floor as he complained about the rules. But, even thought he did believe that many were exaggerated and a few put them in really difficult positions (like the little controversy that arose when rule thirty six, section three was mentioned. The rule specified that every princess of heart must never leave the world in which she was born and that her security will be taken care by the organizations of that world. This rule led some people in the council to believe that Kairi should to go back to Radiant Garden because she was originally from there, almost causing an uproar from her two friends; fortunately, king Mickey countered it by saying that Kairi was now a resident of Destiny Island and had been for many years, therefore, it was her real world. He also remembered them that she was a key bearer now and that she will have to –eventually- travel to different worlds, so they could not apply that rule to her) he liked to believe that they were only trying to do what was best for all the worlds, and in the end, if those rules helped to keep a good relationship between all the worlds that would mean less pressure over his and his friend's shoulders.

After all, with no more darkness, there was no real situation that required the immediate presence of a keyblade warrior. But still, sometimes they will be required… and they should study the rules just in case, or so the king said.

"_Rule sixty four: when a person or creature is responsible for a inter-world crisis, the council shall take the ultimate decision about it's fate. Criminals that attempt to do harm to the council or other worlds shall be transported to an inter-world jail to receive their punishment," _he yawned as he finished reading it. It wasn't really so much more interesting than hearing the teacher, but well, it was better than nothing.

After ten more minutes and being almost overwhelmed by boredom, Sora sighed and closed his manual putting it back in its place inside his pocket. The boy started fidgeting in his chair, he really disliked to be in one place for so long. But then, he looked outside the window. He was happy to at least have gotten a desk beside it; it was, maybe, the only good thing that had happened since he entered the classroom, because he didn't know anyone in the class. Of course, everyone –with a few exceptions as in any classroom- seemed nice enough, but for some reason he didn't feel like talking with them. He sighed again and looked at the garden outside; it was relaxing and made his bad mood disappear almost instantly. After a few minutes he started to doze off. But just as his eyes were about to close something called his attention. It was the shadow of a tree. But it was moving… it was shivering and he could have sworn that he saw a pair of yellow…

"Mr. Akari, do you have something to share with the class?!" demanded the teacher as he looked at the teen with an angry face. That's when Sora noticed that in his surprise he stood up from his desk, gaining everyone's attention.

He turned to look again at the shadow, but it was a normal shadow again. He fiddled with his hands a little searching for an answer.

"Mmmm…Numbers are as important as breathing air?" he offered with a sheepish smile.

The teacher smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, apparently you've been paying attention at least till some extend. All right, sit down, but next time, please raise your hand," the teacher turned back to continue his ode to the numbers, happy that at least he was reaching a few of his students, or so he thought.

Sora sighed in relief; fortunately he had learned a few things after years of getting caught not paying attention to class. He was glad that the lack of practice hadn't affected him so much.

He sat down but for the rest of the class he couldn't tear his eyes from the shadow of that tree.

* * *

Later that day, at the final period, Sora was feeling way better. He had successfully survived his first day of school after almost two years. He had seen his friends in the cafeteria and chatted with them as much as he could. And now, he could consider the worst over for his next class was, maybe, his favorite: P.E.!

Yeah! Pure physical work! No need for much brain there!

Now, it wasn't like he was dumb or something. No! He could be as intelligent as Riku and Kairi if he wanted to! (a.n.: yeah of course…) he was just too lazy for his own good! He would get so bored by reading a book that he would fall asleep before getting to half a page!

But when it came to physical exercise, there was no point to compare! If something he had learned during all the time he was away it was that his brain tended to work better during physical workouts. He was, according to the king, a kinesthetic person, meaning that he learned better through physical experiences, which also explained why he really got so anxious being within a classroom hearing a teacher speak. He shuddered at the memory of all the times he had to do that in that day.

Sora had a smile plastered on his face as he walked inside the big gym. Many of his classmates were complaining about having P.E. but he was couldn't be eager, especially after he saw his favorite teacher enter the gym. The man quickly spotted him and walked towards his way grinning. Sora noticed the man had not changed even a little since the last time he saw him. Same short grayish hair, same marked cheekbones and same scar on his left temple; yeah, the same enthusiastic man as always.

"Well, well, but if it isn't Sora Akari! Young man, for a good while I thought you and Tenmei were dead," he said with a laugh. "But look at you boy, you've grown," the man ruffled his head with much care.

Sora chuckled. Their P.E. teacher had always liked Riku and him. After all, the man was an old sparring champion and saw much promise in both best friends.

In Destiny Island, three were the most important kind of professional sports: One was Blitzball (to which Wakka and Tidus hoped to become pros at), the second was gymnastics (which was Selphie's favorite) and the last was Professional Sword Sparring (a sport much like 'Struggle' from Twilight Town, only that the point was to defeat the opponent instead of collecting orbs). Since they were kids, this teacher had enticed them to practice and compete between each other. Of course, they had been sparring long before meeting the school teacher, but since they did, he always found ways to sneak Riku or Sora out of their classes to bring them to the gym and have them practice in front of him and give them a few advices. Thanks to that they were the best of their year when it came to sparring. The teacher told them about the great future that awaited them in the world of professional sparring, but now that Sora thought of it, he knew that that world wasn't for him. To spar in the national competitions you had to use an official sparring sword with blunt edge to avoid causing mortal damage to the opponent, but now, after all he had to live through, Sora believed that he may never feel comfortable fighting without his keyblade again. It was something that was part of him now. And there was no way he would ever be a professional sparring champion by using a keyblade. So he could say with certainty that that was one job down in his list for the future, but Hey! Maybe he could get a job at that council thing… but then again… Naaahh, he would probably die of boredom.

Sora turned to look at the man that was looking at him with curiosity, apparently he had asked him something, but he was distracted. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry Mr. Tarus, did you said something?"

The man laughed and slapped the boy's shoulder with so much strength that Sora almost lost balance. He now remembered just how strong this teacher was.

"Always daydreaming, aren't you, Akari?" laughed the man. "I just asked you if you've been practicing with the sword."

Sora sweat dropped and smiled nervously.

"I guess you could say I did," he said laughing a little as well.

"Well, It'll be great to see your improvement next class when we practice some good old sparring techniques," he said as he looked at his folder. "Sadly, today we have programmed some blitzball practice for today, so we'll have to leave it for later. Definitely, without those two crazy blitzball twins there's no fun in that," Sora knew that the teacher was referring to Wakka and Tidus, who made such a good team when together that the teachers called them 'the blitzball twins' although they were completely different. "Ok, let's get started!"

After the teacher called everyone over with his whistle and gave them the welcoming speech, he divided them in pairs to start practicing. Sora's partner was a short chubby boy with black hair that made him remember about Pence back in Twilight Town. At that memory, he felt a nostalgic feeling spread through his heart. He smiled at his partner who answered by smiling at him.

"Hi, I'm Tom, nice to meet you."

"Sora. Nice to meet you Tom," they shook hands.

Tom's smile widened and declared "I'll get the ball!"

Sora went to his side on the designated place where they were to practice passes as the boy got the ball. Slowly, Sora brought a hand to his chest and breathed in deeply. _"Yeah, I know. I missed them too,"_ he said to himself. Lately, whenever talked with himself he wondered if Roxas was hearing him… the whole issue of the nobody still made him feel weird… but it was a good kind of weird. It was a reassuring thought. Now, even when he was by himself, he knew that –till some level- he wasn't really alone. Although he hadn't talked or seen his nobody since they became one, from time to time he would get this weird pulses of feelings within him like that nostalgic one that reminded him that he was there, living happily within his heart. Sora smiled, as long as Roxas was happy he could be happy as well. At first he had been worried to disappoint his nobody but the other seemed to have fit well with him, after all, they were always meant to be one.

Soon enough, Tom came back and they started to pass the ball between each other. They had to make strong passes because Blitzball was meant to be played underwater. Tom wasn't really good, but Sora was having fun, he had no problem if the boy threw the ball out of the way or if he didn't catch it right. After a few minutes Sora came to the conclusion that Tom was a very nice person and was catching the idea of the game very fast. The boy confessed he wasn't much into sports and was grateful that Sora was being patient with him, most of the people weren't. The brunette smiled and said that he wasn't like most of people and complimented his new partner for his development since they started the practice. To Sora, Tom was already his friend and he hoped the boy could see him like that as well.

They were having a good time, and Sora felt that maybe everything was going to be alright. He could make new friends between his classmates and present them to his other friends and have a bigger group of people to hang around with. But just when he had thought that everything could really go back to normal he caught something black moving across the gym's floor to the door from the corner of his eye.

"Sora!" he heard Tom scream only to notice the blitzball ball coming at full speed towards him, but it was a little too late. Geez… he had forgotten how much those things really hurt. Sora held his head as everything started to spin around. Then as everything went back into focus he noticed he was on the floor.

"Akari!" exclaimed the teacher. "Are you conscious?"

"Sora… I'm sorry…" mumbled Tom as he offered the boy a hand.

"No problem… I'm fine," he said taking the hand and standing up. That really hurt. It almost felt as if a berserker had mauled his head. Nah, he was exaggerating, perhaps it was more about the fact that it had taken him by surprise.

"Akari, what have I told you? Keep your eyes on ball!" scolded Mr. Tarus.

"Sorry sir… I was…" but just then, he remembered what had caused him to lose concentration in the game. He turned to search for it and froze when he saw a pair of shiny yellow eyes looking at him. It was a heartless, a real heartless, there, looking at him, a shadow with its shaky black body. Sora gasped as the creature melted to the ground and in a puddle of darkness escaped through the gym's door. He rubbed his eyes in disbelieve.

By now, everyone had gathered around him because he wasn't answering to anything they asked. He seemed to be in trance or something. The teacher shook his shoulders calling his name.

"Sora, boy, are you alright? Sora!"

"Uh?!" Sora finally digested the information that had come to him. He had to make sure that thing wouldn't be able to hurt anyone in the school or his world for that matter. "Now that you mention it, sir… I think I'm a little dizzy… would you mind if I go to splash some water on my face? Surely that would help," he asked rather urgently.

The teacher nodded and told him to go to the infirmary after that. He gave him a pass and excused him from the rest of class, which made him wonder if he really looked that bad. As soon as he had the permission Sora practically run out of the gym.

Once outside, he looked around and noticed the puddle of shadows disappearing around the corner of the building. The boy started to run after it. He took many turns and had to stop after a while to catch his breath. Right, left, right, left. Why couldn't the thing go in straight line!?

After a few minutes, Sora had lost its trace and leaned against the wall breathing hard. He was tired, running in straight line was something but running in zigzag was much more difficult. He cleaned his head from sweat and laughed. He had escape from P.E. to do something that was way more exhausting than doing sports.

He was planning to go to the infirmary just so he would have some kind of alibi in case the teacher asked but then he saw the shadow turn around the corner of the main building. Feeling enraged that it was there, making fun of him, the boy run after it and turned the corner only to bump against another person and fall to the floor.

"Ouch!" he said as he rubbed his back.

The other person groaned as he stood up.

"You know, running without looking will only hurt you and the one you decide to collide with," said the voice of his best friend as he offered a hand to the surprised brunette.

"Riku!" he exclaimed before pouting at him. "I was looking, ok? You just came out of nowhere!"

"Oh yeah? What am I then, a freaking shadow?" laughed the friend.

"eh… "Sora looked at him dumbfounded.

"It was a joke you know," explained the older teen.

"Ok…but, Riku what are you doing here?" asked the brunette. "Don't tell me you are ditching classes already!"

The silver haired teen looked at the other annoyed as a soft flush came to his cheeks.

"No dumbass, I'm not ditching! Class is over! Didn't you hear the bell?!"

At the confused expression of his friend Riku sighed in frustration. "I know you love to be in the space but could you call your brains back here for a second?" he said as he tapped the boy's head.

"Hey! Stop it!" Sora pushed Riku's hand away and glared at him.

"Ok, ok, chill out pal," said the teen while laughing at his friend's antics. "Well, anyway, I was just getting out of class when I saw you through the window running at a crazy speed around the building. I wondered what the emergency was so I decided to come to found you. Did make you run around the school for falling while asleep in your first class?" he asked with mockery.

The boy pouted and said: "No, in fact, he sent me to the infirmary… I kind of got attacked by a bliztball ball," he answered rubbing his head.

Riku laughed at him. "Oh, My! A blitzball ball? Like, seriously man? Where was your head at the time?!"

"At the receiving end of a blitzball pass," answered the teen with a gloomy face making his friend laugh even more. After a few minutes of looking at his friend rolling on the floor while laughing (ROFWL) he got quite tired of it. "Are you finished?!"

"OH…(pant) hehe.. (pant) why wasn't I there (pant) to watch it, hahahaha,"

"Ok, I better get going, but don't worry, you may continue making fun of me, please don't mind me," the teen stood up and turned leaving when he felt a hand take hold his ankle.

"Ok, ok, I got it. I'm finished," said Riku with a normal smile on his face as he sat. "you're pretty sensible today, you know that?"

"Me? Oh, why would you think that? Why would I be sensible about you laughing your ass off at my expense? Oh, please Riku, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!"

Riku rolled his eyes but smiled none the less.

"Alright, my bad. But you must admit that it's quite funny. I mean, imagine that our old enemies were to found out that after none of them could defeat you, a blitzball ball succeeded!"

Sora laughed a little at that… he could picture Pete telling Maleficent about it, and he could imagine the old witch burning in green fire at the concept of having been defeated by his clumsy self.

"Ok, it's funny, but it was painful as well! Geez! I had forgotten how hard those things were!"

"Tell me about it…I still remember the times I got hit by Wakka. Now, those were real bruises!" said the older, and then turned to look at his friend curiously. "But, leaving the whole blitzball incident aside, what where you doing running around instead of going to the infirmary? Not that you need, because obviously you don't but…"

Suddenly, Sora's face became serious and Riku could have sworn that it was slightly paler than before. The boy sat down and got closer to his friend as if about to tell him something meant to be secret.

"Riku… I know this is going to sound weird but… before you crashed with me… did you see a shadow go your way?"

"A shadow? What kind of shadow?" asked the silver haired boy in confusion.

"You know… a shadow… like in a heartless shadow…" the boy lowered the volume of his voice with every word and he seemed uncomfortable.

Riku looked at him and then laughed. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder and patted it.

"A heartless? Oh, come on Sora! You and I know that those things are trapped forever in the dark side, there's no way We'll see a shadow here!" but the nervous expression of his friend made every trace of joke disappear from his voice. "Did you see one?" he asked seriously.

"I… I think so… it was… something dark… a shadow and…"

"Stop it right there," said Riku. "Are you sure you didn't just confuse a normal shadow?" he asked.

Sora thought about it and for an instance he remembered the shadow of the tree, it had been pretty normal, even thought for a second he thought it was a shadow heartless… maybe he did confused a shadow… but…

"But… it moved… I followed it and…" the boy stopped when he saw his friend rise a hand to make him stop.

"Did you ever thought of the possibility of it having been a seagull's shadow?" he asked. "As I said before, you were running around like a mad man, it could have been a bird's shadow you were following, after all, it's quite the sunny day and if a bird flew low enough you could get confused, right?" he said, but noticed that his friend wasn't really convinced. "Ok… I don't really like to say this, but I guess it will help at least a little," he sighed and looked at Sora in the eye. "Look Sora, after been trapped in the world of darkness I kind of developed the ability to… let's call it, smell the darkness, ok? It means that I'm able to feel when dark beings get close to me. It was very uncomfortable, especially since most of the time; I could feel darkness emanating form inside of me," he explained as he sat in a relaxed way beside his friend. "But since we came through the door of light, I don't feel anything like that. There's no more darkness like the heartless or the nobodies… everything feels clean," he turned to look at Sora with a reassuring expression. "If there was anything like a heartless here in the school, or in this world for that matter, I would be able to feel it. And be sure that I would be immediately after it. So believe me when I say that there's nothing out there, not anymore, Sora," he stood up and offered his friend a hand. "It's over. We don't have to worry about it any more."

His words made his friend smile. Sora took his hand happily and nodded in agreement. Whatever that thing he saw was, more than probably it was just his imagination. After all, when he saw it for the first time he was all drowsy and then the second time he had just been hit by a blitzball ball. He shouldn't worry about it too much.

"Thanks Riku," he said raising his fist to his friend.

"What are friends for?" he answered as he touched his own fist with Sora's. "Now, we better hurry before Selphie starts the search party for us, or worse… Kairi get's angry at us like last time we left her waiting!"

Both shuddered at the memory and decided to run as fast as they could to find their friends.

As he saw the big smile on his friend's face, Riku thought to himself _"Everything's going to be fine Sora, everything's going to be just fine."_

_

* * *

_

Well, that was all.

Thanks to my dear friend Sazdx for helping me correct the mistakes in the writing_._

Well, see you next chapter!


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